I have never bought brand name clothing in my life. I can't see the
point.

9.

I've been buying shares
for three months now, and all I've done is lose money.

Past simple and continuous tenses

10.

I bought a new dress for my sister
yesterday, as it's her birthday tomorrow.

11.

I was just coming
out of Seibu yesterday afternoon when I bumped into my boss! I don't know
who was more embarrassed. He still hasn't said anything about it, but I'll stay at work late today just in
case.

Past perfect tenses

12.

When the police arrived,
the robber had already escaped in a get-away car.

Just think! Next week you'll be working like a
slave in the office while I'll be lying on a sunny beach!

Future perfect tenses

16.

If the stock market keeps rising, I'll have doubled my
money by the end of the month.

17.

Let's get married! By the end of December we'll have been going out
for five years. Surely that's long enough for us to get to know
each other?

No! I promised my mother I wouldn't get married until
I had been going out with someone for ten years. She said you can't trust
men and you have to test their loyalty.

Right! I'm going to look
for someone else then!

Explanation

Present simple

This is used mainly for the following:

The present simple tense is used to
describe a natural law as in, 'The sun rises in the
East.'

The present simple tense is used to
describe a permanent state as in, 'I live in Hong Kong.'

The present simple tense is used to
describe a permanent characteristic of someone/thing as in, 'I am 1.8 metres tall.'

The present simple tense is used to
describe what you know or how you feel about something as in, 'I think this is a bad idea.'

The present simple tense is used to
make commands or give instructions as in, 'Come here!' or,
'First you attach X to Y, then you....'

The present simple tense is used to
form part of a condition as in, 'If you don't come here right
now, I'll knock your head off!'

The present simple tense is used to
describe habits or regularly occurring actions as in, 'I usually have my lunch in the staff canteen.'

Present
continuous

This is used mainly for the following:

The present continuous tense is used to
describe something that is happening now and will continue for a limited period of time as
in, 'At the moment I am working
on a project for ...'

The present continuous tense is used to
describe or ask about future arrangements as in, 'On Tuesday I'm
meeting my students to talk about their project.' or, 'What are
you doing this weekend?'

The present continuous tense is used to
describe intentions by using the verb 'go' as in, 'This week I'm
going to go swimming every day.'

The present continuous tense is used to
make predictions using the verb 'go' as in, 'Look at those
clouds! It's going to really pour with rain!'

Present
perfect simple

This used mainly for the following:

The present perfect simple tense is used to
describe an event that happened at some unknown or unstated time in the past. As soon as the time period is known or there is more discussion
of the event, then the past tense must be used. An example is:A: 'Somebody has
broken the window!'B: 'Yes, it was
me. I tripped and fell against
it.' A: 'Did
you hurt yourself?'
B: 'No, I was
lucky.'

The present perfect simple tense is used to
ask questions about actions or states that you assume took place in the past, but you
don't know when as in, 'Have you ever been to Bangkok?' or ' Have you ever lived outside your
own country?' or, 'Have you seen
John today?'

The present perfect simple tense is used to
make statements about actions or states in the past where you don't mention the time as
in, 'I have finished the report on our annual sales.'

The present perfect simple tense is used to
ask questions about actions which you know the other person intended to or was
supposed to do as in, 'Have you done
your homework yet?'

The present perfect simple tense is used to
make negative statements about actions others assume you have done as in,
A: 'Where are you going for your summer holidays?' B: 'I don't know, I haven't decided yet.'

Present perfect continuous

This used mainly for the following:

The present perfect continuous tense is used to describe a state that
began in the past and is still true as in, 'I have been living in Hong Kong for years /since I was
a child.'

The continuous form is used to describe an action or repeated series of
actions that began in the past and is continuing at the present moment as in, 'I have been working for ten hours without a break.'
or, 'I have been
reading a lot of books about China lately.' If in the last example the speaker used the present
perfect simple tense, it would imply that now s/he had stopped reading books about
China and was reading about something else.

Note: It is not possible to use the continuous form with
verbs expressing knowledge or opinion. As for the difference in meaning between using the
continuous and the simple form, it often depends on whether the speaker thinks the state
is likely to be temporary or permanent. Thus an expatriate might say, 'I've been living in Hong Kong for years,' as s/he perceives
him/herself to be a temporary resident here, even though s/he may have lived here a long
time. It is also not possible to use it with verbs of perception like 'see' and
'hear' unless they are being used in the sense of actions. For example a manager
might say, ' I've been seeing a lot of my sales staff
recently.' (i.e. meeting or talking with them) or, ' I've been
hearing a lot of good things about your work recently.' (i.e. people have told
him).

Past simple

This is used mainly for the following:

The simple form is used to describe an action or a sequence of actions
that took place at some known time in the past, either because it is stated or
because it can be inferred from the context as in, 'I grew
up in the UK.' or 'I had
a busy day yesterday. I did all my Christmas shopping, went to the cinema, met a friend for lunch and did a full day's work!'

For reporting what someone said as in, 'He told me he was born in Singapore, not Hong Kong.'

For making conditional sentences when you are talking about something that
is impossible, or is an idea/hypothesis rather than something that you think
is likely to happen. An example is, 'If I had a car I
would be able to drive out to the New Territories.' (i.e. I don't have a car and I probably think I can't afford
one or I have nowhere to keep it).

Past continuous

This is used mainly for the following:

The continuous form is used to describe an action or state that occurred
over a period of time in the past as in, 'I was working
on the report all day yesterday.' or 'I was living in Spain for 7 years.'Note: In both these cases it is also possible to use the
simple form.

The continuous form is also used to describe an action or state in the
past that is interrupted by another shorter action as in, 'The police were searching the building when the gunman opened fire on them.' or 'I was living in Spain when it changed from being a dictatorship to a democracy.'
Note: In the last example, even though the change to
democracy took a number of years, I was there from before the beginning till after the
changeover was complete.

For reporting what someone said when they used the present continuous as
in, 'He said he was going out for lunch.'

Past perfect simple

This is used mainly for the following:

It's most important use is to relate activities/states to each other in
the past when it is not clear from the context which one happened first. Students tend
to use it instead of the past simple (wrong) rather
than with the past simple (right).For example, 'When the firemen arrived, someonehad already put the
fire out.' the past perfect is used here to make clear that the second action happened
first.

It is used to report what someone said when they used the present perfect
or past tense as in, 'She said she had already been to Thailand before so didn't want to go there again.'

In a conditional sentence where the speaker/writer is referring to the
past as in, 'If I had bought internet shares in 1998, I
would be a rich man now.'

Past perfect continuous

This is used mainly for the following:

The past perfect continuous tense is used to relate a continuous activity
or state to another activity or state in the past as in, 'He had
been living in Hong Kong for twenty years when he finally returned to the UK.'
Note: The past perfect tenses relate to the past tense in
exactly the same way that the present perfect relates to the present tense. If the words
'before' or 'after' are used it is often unnecessary to use them rather than the past as
these words make the time sequence of the actions clear. The past perfect continuous is
rarely used. Students often make the mistake of trying to overuse the past perfect.

Future simple

This uses the modal verb 'will' to refer to the future. It is only one way of
referring to the future and is not necessarily the most important.

It is mainly used for the following:

The future simple tense is used when the speaker has just made a decision
about what to do as in, 'I think I'll gohome now.'

The future simple tense is used when the speaker/writer is making a
prediction as in, 'I believe the stock market will go up
again soon.'

The future simple tense is used to express the consequence of a condition
as in, 'If staff continue being late for work, I'll have to
take action.' or, 'When she comes, I'll tell her you want to
see her.'

Future continuous

This mainly used for the following:

The future continuous tense is used to describe a future
activity or state at some particular time in the future; in this respect it is an example of how the continuous form is
used to express an interrupted action ( in this case by a moment of time
rather than by an action). Examples are: This time next week I'll be sitting on a plane on my way to America.

The future continuous tense is used to describe a future
activity or state that is taking place at the same time as another future action or state as in, 'While you're lying back watching television, I'll be slavingover my homework.'
Note: The use of 'will' (except in no.1 of
the future simple) always expresses an element of prediction.

Future perfect tenses

We use the future perfect tense when we place ourselves at some time in
the future, look back and make a prediction about an activity or state that will be completed,
or will have been completed by that time. It is not
often used. An example would be, 'I 'll have completed the report by next Wednesday.', but the
speaker could also say, 'I'll complete the report by next
Wednesday.'. The last example could be interpreted as a promise, while the former is a simple prediction.

The future perfect continuous form is used to describe the length of time
that a continuous action or state has lasted when looked at from some point in the future.
For example, an unemployed person might say, 'By the end of this month I'll havebeen sitting on my backside doing nothing for a year.'